Regimental Bingo Nicknames or Lingo

The earliest record of soldiers playing the game in barracks is 1873, from an old soldier reminiscing about 30 years prior.²⁷ Bingo was called ‘House’ in the Army, where there was a tradition of using regimental nicknames instead of numbers. Indeed, one of the first nicknames recorded is ‘The Blind’ alf ‘undred’ for 50.²⁸

Anecdotally, a few people state there were nicknames for all the numbers; however, they only list a few. One of the best examples is from John Masters:

“Company Quartermaster Sergeant Spencer, of C, was calling the numbers, and this card he was calling Regimental House: that is, when the number he had to call was “One” he didn’t call the usual “Kelly’s Eye, number one,” but “Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard” – the nickname of the Royal Scots, the 1st Foot of the British Line. He never called the actual number out at all; if you didn’t know the numbers, nicknames, and connected anecdotes of every regiment in the Army, you were never able to fill in your card.”
John Masters, Heart of War¹⁵

From a range of sources, there are 23 regimental nicknames used in Bingo for 16 numbers, so that is a start. Next, I used Soldier and Sailor by Fraser and Gibbons,²⁵ which has a great list of regimental nicknames from the First World War, and Charles Cooper King’s The Story of the British Army²⁴, which has a full list of numbered regiments, finally, to fill in the gaps, I used Wikipedia.²⁶

The Army featured a variety of games, including the traditional 90-number Bingo we know and play today, as well as rarer 99 and 100-number games. So I have included regimental nicknames up to 100.

There are often numerous nicknames for different numbers, and I have selected just one for each.  If you disagree with any or think there is a better alternative, let me know. Where the calls are known and there are multiple nicknames for the same number, I have included them all (they are in bold).